Russian stocks close mixed on stable oil, weaker ruble

MOSCOW, May 17 (PRIME) -- Wednesday became a third consecutive day of mixed trading on the Russian stock market due to the lack of domestic or global drivers, analysts said.

The MICEX grew 0.07% to 1.994,35 and the RTS eased 0.78% to 1,104.30.

“The Russian market traded in a narrow range on low volumes. The external markets are demonstrating uncertainty. However, a slight ruble weakening prevents domestic benchmarks from a deep dive,” Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

Forex Club analyst Irina Rogova said that Russian market traded in line with the global stock exchanges, which fell pressured by a new political scandal around U.S. President Donald Trump.

She added that investors had no appetite for risky assets in such a situation and that the oil price rally has stalled after the American Petroleum Institute (API) said that crude inventories rose by 0.8 million barrels.

The Brent oil price fluctuated around a $52 per barrel mark during the day supported by expectations that an OPEC+ ministerial committee meeting scheduled for May 25 will prolong a production cut agreement.

In Russia, metals exporters outperformed the market thanks to a weaker ruble. Silver and gold producer Polymetal International gained 2.65% to 775 rubles, aluminum giant UC RUSAL added 1.56% to 27.93 rubles and mining giant Mechel rose by 1.45% to 101.35 rubles.

Below are the MICEX’ five most active stocks on Wednesday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.83%	169.24	5.973
Gazprom	+0.72%	132.07	2.314
Lukoil	-0.71%	2,870.00	1.564
ALROSA	+1.11%	90.49	1.449
Magnit	+2.19%	9,440.00	1.343

(56.2603 rubles – U.S. $1)

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